Swaziland is an independent monarchy in southeastern Africa, bounded on the east by Mozambique and on the southeast, south, west, and north by South Africa. It covers an area of 17,363 sq km (6,704 sq mi). Nearly all of the people in Swaziland are ethnic Swazi, although there are small populations of Zulu, Tsonga, Asians, and Europeans. About 62 percent of the country's land has been set aside by the monarchy for exclusive use by the Swazi people. Much of the remaining land is owned by Europeans or foreign companies. The population (2006 estimate) is 1,136,334, giving Swaziland a population density of 66 persons per sq km (171 per sq mi). In 2006 the annual population growth rate was estimated at -0.2 percent. The capital and principal town is Mbabane (population, 1986, 38,290). Lobamba is the traditional royal capital. Some 23 percent of the population lives in urban areas.
Profile of the King of Swaziland's wives. King Mswati III has seven wives. This documentary interviews him and his extended family about their experience of his polygamy, their culture and their lives. Mswati III, born in 1968, formerly Makhosetive, ngwenyama (paramount chief or king) of Swaziland (1986- ). The second youngest of at least 67 sons of King Sobhuza II, Makhosetive was only 15 years old when chosen by his ailing father to succeed him to the throne. According to tradition, he was not to be crowned king until he turned 21 and royal duties would be attended to by a regent, one of Sobhuza's wives. In 1983 Makhosetive was called away from his studies at Sherborne, England, to quell unrest generated by the removal of Queen Mother Dzeliwe as regent and the installation of Queen Ntombi. Further disputes between royal factions led to his coronation as King Mswati III, in April 1986, three years earlier than expected. In May 1986 Mswati dismissed the Liqoqo, the traditional advisory council to regents, which had assumed greater powers than were customary. In July 1986 he dismissed and charged with treason Prime Minister Prince Bhekimpi and several government officials for their role in the ejection of Queen Regent Dzeliwe, though he eventually pardoned those who were convicted. Following the confirmation of his kingship when he turned 21, Mswati faced increasing demands by opposition leaders for transition to a multiparty democratic state in which the monarchy only serves a ceremonial function. Mswati refused these demands and again dismissed his prime minister. Swaziland's economy suffers from the withdrawal of large multinational corporations which had looked upon the small nation as a safe investment in the midst of the political volatility in neighboring South Africa and Mozambique during the 1980s. Also criticism of the royal family with its monopoly on agricultural lands and its lavish spending on luxuries has intensified. A January 1996 eight-day prodemocracy strike by timber and sugar workers prompted Mswati to agree to hold forums on the future of the monarchy, but he insisted that he would not be forced to cede power.
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